Exile: A Tale
by Elthial
Summary: A secret is revealed at a sleepover.... (An ATS fic)


TITLE: EXILE: A TALE

AUTHOR: ELTHIAL

SUMMARY: A secret is revealed at a sleepover

DISCLAIMER: I dont own the matrix or any of its characters, fortantely all of the characters in this story are ATS characters which we (ATS in general) own. Only the universe it takes place in is the matrix. To better understand this fic, you will really need to read the Agents the series, by Stormhawk, overlord mordax and myself.

* * *

Stevie crossed her legs as she sat down on the edge of Rebecca's double bed and smoothed out the legs of her green silk pajamas, Rebecca flopped down beside her making the bed bounce as she just let herself drop. Rebecca lay sprawled down across the bed in her purple pajamas, which like Stevie's were silk too, for several long moments enjoying the comfort of her very nice and very soft duvet before shuffling up to the edge of her bed, looking down at Angela, Rana, Lydia and Jessica.

Rebecca was a cute girl with an elfin face framed by short brown hair which she had streaked with blonde; she was a painfully shy girl usually and avoided attracting attention towards herself, only seeming more confident around people she had known for a while. Rebecca lived in a beautiful large Tudor style house along with her foster parents who had adopted her 7 years ago, she had been found by the emergency services, the only survivor of a large warehouse explosion, with no carers coming forward Rebecca was placed in care and eventually adopted by the Thatcher family. Rebecca plain refused to speak about her life beyond that point so little was known and continually insisted that she couldn't remember anything beyond then, the counsellors all made various noises and had said that the trauma of the event had made her mind repressed it.

Jessica looked up from her place lying across the carpeted floor beside Rebecca's bed and grinned up at her best friend, unlike Stevie or Rebecca, Jessica was wearing a massively oversized T-shirt and black lace panties. Rana and Lydia each had cotton pajamas whilst Angela's pajamas were made out of some material that Stevie didn't recognise, it felt kind of like velvet but at the same time it was obvious it was something completely different, whatever the material it was nice.

Having nothing better to do over the weekend Rebecca had invited them all over for a sleepover party at her house unfortunately her parents were home so it couldn't become a full fledged party, not that Rebecca was the type of girl who would pull such a stunt in her foster parents house.

The girls all knew each other from school, Angela, Rana and Lydia were all in Stevie's English class whilst Jessica and Rebecca were in her Art class, due to some interesting back history the girls all knew Stevie as Brooke because Stevie was hiding under an assumed name.

Stevie had been almost irrationally wary of Jessica after the incident with her alternate personality, this was something that had hurt their friendship somewhat but while Jessica had shards of the recklessness and devil may care attitude that Stevies previous incarnation had, she also had some semblance of self control and lacked any self destructive tendencies. Eventually realising that her friend Jessica was a different person than her personal inner demon Stevie had apologised to the girl, telling her that she had some recent bad experiences with another Jessica and she was just being silly, after spending more time with Jessica Stevie had learned of the girl's passion for gymnastics, Jessica practised most nights with the ambition of making it into the national team.

Jessica stretched easing out muscles before turning her attention to the others who were lying or sitting in various positions around Rebecca's room in their nightclothes.

"I may have mentioned this before but you really do have quite a cool house Rebecca" She said referring to the rather large bedroom that Rebecca owned, it was a good deal larger than her own room perhaps even twice the size.

Rebecca blushed lightly. "Its not my house" she said demurely. "My foster parents own it"

Jessica scoffed. "Nonsense, you live here too and that's good enough for me" She stated in a voice that told this was a regular occurrence between the pair. "You really need to stop putting yourself down"

Rebecca gave her a long look that somehow conveyed a world of opinions, Jessica mostly shook it off but tactfully dropped the subject once again, no doubt to bring it up at a later date.

Stevie turned her head at Rebecca and then back to Jessica trying to work out exactly what type of moment had passed between the two of them. Angela, Lydia and Rana were pretty much oblivious to that moment, having a particular dress in one of Rebecca's magazines having caught their attention and leading to them make various comments on its worth, Stevie wasn't particularly interested she'd seen it earlier in her own copy of the magazine which was probably currently lying on her floor somewhere. Jessica was somewhat more interested and deftly nabbed the magazine from the three girls.

"Hey! I was looking at that" Rana was the loudest to complain, the other two taking it somewhat in their stride as Jessica relived them of their magazine flicked through the pages to find what they were looking at, smirking when she found it.

"What?" Rana asked defensively.

Jessica's smirk grew as she flipped the magazine around, showing the product in question. "You'd honestly wear that? It's not so much a mini skirt than a belt" She told them grinning. "Almost in a literal sense too"

Before Rana could muster a suitably indignant response, the distinctive sound of a soft drinks bottle being opened filled the room, Rebecca having opened a bottle of coke.

"Oooh Coke" Lydia stated interested.

"You actually have any more?" asked Jessica asked, turning her attention to Rebecca whom rolled on her bed and opened her beside table which revealed it to be a mini fridge.

"You have a mini fridge?" Jessica asked disbelieving. "The words spoiled come to mind"

Rebecca stuck her tongue out at her friend and affected an innocent expression as she reached in, grabbing half a dozen more bottles before throwing one to each of the others in the room.

"Thanks" Muttered Stevie as she caught the bottle thrown at her, opening it and taking a sip as Rebecca moved herself back into position again with her own drink.

"So, what do you want to do?" Jessica asked the group. "First person to mention truth and dare DIES" she added seeing Angela's face light up.

"Drat" Muttered Angela as she pouted

"How about a creepy story?" suggested Lydia, snapping at straws.

"A creepy story?" Stevie asked sceptically giving Lydia a disbelieving look, Lydia shrugged it off.

"Don't be such a killjoy Brooke" Angela scolded.

"Yeah.." Seconded Rana.

"Right, whatever" Stevie muttered "Who's going first then?"

"I suggest our host, Miss Rebecca Thatcher" Angela announced flamboyantly with suitable talk show hand movements.

"Me!" Rebecca looked at Angela startled "I… Er…"

"Oh come on, you have to have one story" Angela pressed.

Rebecca gave a pleading look to Jessica for help, however her friend was not being pillar of support right now and so sighing Rebecca gave in. "Well… I guess…" She hazarded.

"Good, start then" Angela said in a mock commanding tone, shifting to get herself more comfortable.

"Alright…..It was a calm evening in October…."

"Isn't it suppose to be a dark stormy night?" Jessica interrupted. "And more importantly are there going to be any strapping princes?"

"Jess!" Rebecca exclaimed exasperated already. "Just let me tell the story. Now as I was saying… It was a calm evening in October…."

It was a calm evening in October and the girl was walking back from an after school lesson, the sky was already well and truly on its way to darkening, leaving a dusky twilight atmosphere in the roads as she walked back. Cars occasionally passed by the road but for the most part it was fairly quiet, the girl lived away from the main parts of town and the area in which she lived had a gentle countryside feel to it, whilst still being only ten minutes from the shop via various means of transportation.

Now this story would be very boring if something didn't happen within the next ten minutes, as it just so happened this something was…

* * *

"Pink Koalas!" Shouted Jessica.

Stevie stared at Jessica for a while… for quite a while.

"No…. not quite, anyway…." Rebecca stated, getting back into the story.

* * *

…the sound of loud arguing coming from the lightly wooded area than ran alongside the road, from the sounds of it a woman and a pair of men having a rather solid argument although she couldn't make the words out, curiosity getting the better of her she cross the road to see if she could get a better look at what was going on. Looking across to the group the girl spotted two women both unnaturally pale with black hair, involved in vicious argument with a mixed bunched of men and women, what really got her attention was the array of weapons that the groups where wearing.

Deciding that digression was the better part of valour she decided to sneak as far away from the group as possible, a great plan if not for everything going straight to hell right there and then.

The argument reached fever pitch and obviously someone made a wrong move as their was a moment of shouting before gun shots began flying everywhere, the girl wisely decided to hit the deck as rogue bullets peppered the surroundings. From where she had crashed down on the deck she could see that the two pale Goth women had already dodged the bullets and where heading hell for leather towards the nearest cover, again someone upstairs had it out for our girl as this direction just happened to be where she was crin….. bravely taking cover.

Apparently the two women had not arrived at the meeting alone because shortly after they reached cover, a man popped up from behind a short garden wall and began opening fire upon the people chasing after the two goth women. Two went down not to get back up again whilst the rest scrambled for cover from the new hail of bullets levelled against them, once he'd bought them a few more seconds breathing space, he leapt from behind the wall and raced after the two women who where quickly leaving the area, their pursuers however were not that far behind, coming over the wall a few moments later.

"Hey, there's another one of them" one the men shouted pointing out the girl who lay on the floor.

The expression _fuck_ rattled through her mind as she scrambled to her feet and chased after the two Goth women and their male backup, at least they weren't shooting at her and possibly she could get some from of protection from them. She sprinted after the trio followed by the pursuers, however the trio of individuals were significantly faster than she was, she turned a corner and then another, finding herself faced by a almost sheer drop were the hillside gave away, there was a road but it was a significant distance below.

Turning behind her she saw the group of now fairly tired and annoyed pursuers come round the corner looking for blood, hers being on their wish list. Going back the way she came was not an option anymore, that way seemed to lead only to certain death so she choose the only option that was left available to her, she stepped off the cliff.

The girl fell, certain death in the form of a solid slab of tarmac approaching far too rapidly for anyone to be comfortable but the instant before she hit the ground, large purple fairy wings snapped out from her back allowing her to glide safely to the ground, much to the chagrin of the grizzly looking man who looked over the top of the cliff down at her.

* * *

"That's cheating!" declared Stevie "You can't randomly sprout fairy wings to get yourself out of a situation."

"She didn't randomly sprout them, she's a fairy" Rebecca explained that particular plot twist to Stevie.

"I'm fairly certain fairies aren't real" Stevie told Rebecca disbelievingly.

"Oh yeah, and what do _you_ know of reality?" Rebecca asked sarcastically

"More than you" Stevie shot back.

Rebecca scoffed.

"Hey! No need for this ladies" Jessica interrupted the pair before they could start a cat fight, she turned to Rebecca. "You want to continue?"

* * *

Looking up from where she landed the girl spotted the man at the top of the cliff, she broke into a run again as they still had guns but no bullets where fired at her, instead with typical lame luck something much more disturbing occurred. Something very large and very loud howled at the moon, slowing down to a stop the girl turned to look just in time to see this unnaturally huge wolf, jump down the side of the cliff, digging its claws in to prevent itself falling all the way before it landed heavily on the same road as her.

The girls eyes widened.

The creatures eyes narrowed.

The girls eyes widened more.

It let out a low and dangerous growl.

Bugger that, the girl ran.

It chased.

The girls feet pounded down against the tarmac as she ran as fast as she possibly could, the creature some 50 meters behind her snarled and growled as it chased her down gaining rapidly on its four feet, sparing a moment the girl gave a glance behind her and wished she hadn't, the werewolf was only seconds behind. In fact she should not have looked behind her at all, she wasn't watching where she was going and tripped, a trip that was going to cost her as she fell hard to the ground, the wolf snarled and leapt at her, giving only enough time to throw her arm up and close her eyes in defence.

She waited for the werewolf to pounce on her, to tear her arm to sheds, to rip and tear her muscle from her bones, to slash her delicate wings, to mutilate her innocent body, to devo….. hang on….

The girl paused.

Surely she should be dead by now?

Hesitantly she peered out of one eye and then out of the other, one thing that became certain quickly was that she was no longer in the street with the werewolf, to be technical she was no longer in a street at all.

At this exact moment in time she was lying on the roof of what she assumed was some sort of water tower.

This was unusual and she did the only thing that was logical to a person in her situation.

She blinked.

Turning her head to the side she saw a young women of around twenty one maybe twenty two years of age if she judged correctly, the woman had a short blue black hair cut that was rather androgynous in style but the more remarkable thing about her was this feeling of importance perhaps power that seemed to wrap around her like a cloak. If the girl was perfectly honest it was unnatural, disturbing feeling that gave her the impression that the woman was somehow above the laws. Not the laws of people but the laws of nature themselves, like she was some goddess in blood.

As if completely unaware of these epic thoughts going through the girls head (which being a goddess she shouldn't have been), the woman tilted her head to the side and dropped down to match the girls lying across the ground level.

"Hello" The woman spoke in a simple melodious voice.

"Hi…" The girl offered in a weak voice, to be honest her heart was still doing its impression of a hummingbird, beating at several hundred beats per second.

"Nice evening isn't it?" The woman commented idly about the weather, looking out at the night as the last traces of sunlight disappeared from the horizon totally.

The girl gave a half hearted look around, it was still quite a bright night from the moon which hung high, bright and full in the sky. "I guess so" she offered again.

"Think you can make it home without any other disasters?" The woman asked in a kind, if somewhat humoured voice.

"Err…" The girl gave the woman a strange look as she tried to sort her mind out, the woman had obviously seen the werewolf…. Hell she was probably the one who had saved her from being a chew toy but as she looked around the area again she realised that she had absolutely no idea where she was. "No" came the embarrassed meek voice from the girl.

"Alright" The woman offered. "Stand up, close your eyes, click your heels three times and say 'There's no place like home, There's no place like home'."

The girl stared at her.

The woman look affronted. "What?"

The girl continued staring.

The woman stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Look you're a fairy who has just witnessed a fight between werewolf and vampire clans, flown off a cliff and been chased by one of the larger wolves. Yet you doubt me?" She questioned sceptically.

The girl blushed.

The woman smirked looking redeemed. "See… perfectly logical" she announced to the world in general and then paused listening to something before frowning. "Okay, you can quit it blondie or I wont go with your little revenge prank against god upstairs" She said, pointing her finger and talking to thin air.

The girl looked at her, wondering if she'd gone mad.

The woman obviously caught the thought and turned to face the girl, motioning to the same patch of air as before. "Ghost" she explained.

The girl looked sceptical.

"What is with you and the disbelieving?" She asked, somewhat annoyed before pausing and confronting thin air again. "I'll deal with you later"

The girl coughed deliberately in an attempt to attract the potentially crazy goddess attention. "Who are you?" She asked in a voice that spoke of pure confusion.

The woman looked at the girl. "Your fairy godmother" She answered dryly before sighing. "You want to go home?" She asked.

"Kinda" the girl said as she got up from her position on the floor brushed herself off. "My parents are going to get worried"

"Alright close your eyes" The so called fairy godmother told her.

The girl looked confused.

"Just trust me" The woman suggested gently.

The girl sighed and closed her eyes, waiting…. and waiting….. and waiting.

"What now?" she asked.

There was no answer.

The girl opened her eyes, looking around noting the familiar garden and house. She was home.

* * *

"The end" Rebecca told the group.

"That was very, very weird" Jessica told her friend, somewhat in awe.

"Fairies, werewolves, vampires, ghosts and goddesses" Stevie commented. "I was kinda waiting for where the kitchen sink would come in"

"It wasn't a very scary story" Complained Lydia.

"Werewolves are scary" argued Rebecca before she gave a little shiver, causing Rana to raise an eyebrow. Rebecca gave a little embarrassed shrug. "Phobia of big dogs" She explained.

"It wasn't particularly realistic either with all the monsters and everything" Angela commented. "Real scary stories are the ones that happen in real life."

Rebecca let out a little smirk as she rubbed her shoulders which were aching from being in one position for too long. "Everyone's a critic huh? I guess it wasn't that real a story was it?" She asked fingers rubbing below her pajama top against a tattoo of purple wings.

The End.


End file.
